Building The Foundry
The Furnace
The Burner
The Cart
Tongs & Crucible
Sand Muller
Mongo Burner
Fundamentals of Casting
The Process
Sand Casting
Lost Wax Casting
ALUMINUM ALLOYS
Other Foundries
There are many ways to change the shape of metal. Most of it is done with tools, like lathes, mills, drills, shapers, and hand tools. But, melting metal to change it's shape is has really piqued my interest. It really doesn't take much to bring metals like zinc and aluminum to it's melting temperature. It is well within the reach of the hobbyist. The metal of choice for me is aluminum alloys because of its availability and low melting temperature ,compared to bronze or iron. Aluminum can be melted and poured less than 1300° F. This web-site is about the construction of a metal melting foundry and the tools that I use to cast metal. All my castings so far have been done in sand molds (water or oil based mixtures). The details of the foundry construction and casting tools can be accessed from the outline at the left of this page.
Larry
H.
July 27, 2002
Update December 1, 2004: Well, the unthinkable happened to me on November 16: my website was blown away by my web host. The site is back on line as of this morning.
Update September 3, 2003: My second furnace is starting to take shape, but the basic design has changed. The propane bottle shell is out. The bottom part of the furnace was fabricated using insulating castable refractory in a sheet metal shell. The O.D. of the furnace is 16" and will take a 6" (diameter) crucible. I should be able to melt 9 to 10 pounds of aluminum. The top part of the furnace will be insulated with ceramic fiber blanket and will be light weight (will not require a lifting device), The burner will be a 1 1/4" side arm propane burner. I did a short burn with it last week and it will burn outside the furnace without any problems.
Update February 27, 2003: I have been away from the foundry for about six months because of my day job, but I am anxious to get back to casting. I am starting another furnace, this time using an old propane bottle. The freon-foundry takes a 3 1/2" crucible, limiting the size of the casting that I can pour. The new furnace will take crucibles up to 5".
I am also making plans to do some lost-wax casting, so that means I'll need some new equipment and skills. The goal is to be able to make rings and other jewelry. The plans include a small CNC mill to machine Wax ring blanks. That's pretty ambitious goal, since I don't have enough time as it is.